Barkar Nash (Page 1,117)

Government says it has repatriated 63 of 140 Thais who sought help

CHAING RAI: More than 140 Thais have sought help after being duped by online scam gangs to work in Myanmar’s Shan state since last year, and about 60 have been rescued so far, according to the Consular Affairs Department

Ruj Thammongkol, the department’s director-general, provided the update at a meeting on Wednesday with representatives of other groups seeking solutions to speed up the repatriation of victims.

Participants included Paveena Hongsakul, president of the Paveena Foundation for Children and Women, and officials from the Thai embassy in Yangon, the Chiang Rai Chamber of Commerce and the Migrant Worker Assistance Centre in Chiang Rai.

Many Thais are lured by online advertisements on social media promising higher wages and attractive welfare packages, said Pol Col Sanya Niumpradit, Police Attache of the Royal Thai Embassy in Myanmar.

However, they later became victims of scammers, with their passports taken, he said, adding that many had contacted the embassy for help.

Pym Chaiyasan, first secretary of the embassy, said most of the victims came from Thailand’s northeastern and central regions, and none were Chiang Rai residents.

Amnat Phalapleewan, director of the Thai Nationals Overseas Interests Protection Division of the Consular Department, said most of them reported having been lured to work illegally in Myanmar.

“About 140 people asked us for help but we have been able to repatriate only 63 of them so far,” he said. “The problem is that the rescue process can take about two to three months.”

Establishing an investigation centre to punish those who file false complaints to the division could reduce the rescue process to a few weeks, he said.

An immigration office in Chiang Rai also reported that Thais who were lured by criminals did not cross the border using the Mae Sai immigration checkpoint. Instead, they used natural crossings, which made it hard for officers to track them, it said.

According to a report by The Border Consortium (TBC), 11 out of 18 Thais, aged 20–30 years old, were rescued from call centre gangs from November to January, leaving the rest yet to be rescued.

It said the victims viewed recruitment ads on Facebook, Line and TikTok about working in the Myanmar border town of Tachileik, promising free food and accommodation and high pay.

However, after crossing, they were sent to other cities in Shan state to work for call centre gangs, it said.

Some of them were forced to sign contracts written in the Chinese language, it said, noting that they were abused while some of the women were forced to sell sex.

A similar message came from the Paveena Foundation for Children and Women, which said some of the women were forced to use drugs and became prostitutes while others were held for ransom.

Demonstrators ask Election Commission to hurry up and endorse vote results so new government can get to work

A group of demonstrators on Thursday demanded the Election Commission dismiss all complaints against Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat and endorse official election results as soon as possible to pave the way for his government.

About 50 members of the June 24 Democracy group showed up at the office of the EC at the government complex on Chaeng Watthana Road on Thursday afternoon to voice their demands.

Their leader, Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, said they wanted the EC to endorse the results of the May 14 polls immediately.

“As the EC has not verified 95% of the MP vote results, the opening of the House is delayed and the parliament cannot convene to elect the prime minister,” said Mr Somyot, who spent seven years in prison after being convicted of lese-majeste and defamation.

“This lets Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, the caretaker prime minister and defence minister, head the government and remain in power.”

Attempts to block Mr Pita and the party that received overwhelming voter support from forming a government has resulted in an “ongoing political crisis”, Mr Somyot said. Move Forward Party received 14.44 million votes in the party-list poll, far ahead of second-place Pheu Thai with 10.96 million.

Mr Somyot’s group said the EC should not accept any of the complaints filed in connection with Mr Pita’s small shareholding in iTV Plc; otherwise, there could be mass demonstrations, he said.

The constitution prohibits a shareholder of a media organisation from running as an MP in a general election. iTV has not been actively involved in any kind of media business for more than 15 years.

“If the EC accepts the complaints for consideration, it will demonstrate its connection with coupmakers,” said Mr Somyot, noting that the EC was appointed by senators who in turn were installed by Gen Prayut and his allies.

Mr Pita held a very small amount of iTV shares and would be unable to influence the business in any way even if it was still involved in media, said Mr Somyot.

“Such petitions and their acceptance will be considered as ill intentioned and the destruction of democracy,” he added.

Mr Pita earlier admitted he had 42,000 shares in iTV but said he held them as the manager of his late father’s estate and had since transferred the shares to other people.

Mr Somyot also demanded that the EC endorse 95% of the MPs-elect, thus making the election official, by June 20 or as soon as possible. He said his group would return to the EC on June 20 if it did not see any progress.

The EC has said that it it is confident that it will be able to endorse the results more quickly than it did after the 2019 polls.

Under the law, the EC has 60 days from Election Day, or until July 13, to certify at least 95% of all MPs-elect to make the vote results official. In 2019, it completed this task on May 8, or 45 days after polling day. This year, the 45-day mark would fall on June 28.

Security agencies say student movement advocating ‘Patani State’ could be breaking the law

Security agencies are keeping a close watch on a group that has called for a public referendum on the independence of “Patani State” from Thailand, because doing so is tantamount to an act of separatism and unlawful, says the deputy commander of the 4th Army Region.

Maj Gen Pramote Prom-in said the referendum call was raised during an event held to introduce the “National Student Movement” or “Pelajar Bangsa” of the four southern border provinces, on the Pattani campus of Prince of Songkla University on Wednesday.

Although the students have the right to express their opinions, they should be careful not to transgress the laws and territorial sovereignty of the country, said Maj Gen Pramote, adding that security agencies had been keeping their activities under watch.

Maj Gen Pramote said the authorities are duty-bound to make people in society understand that such an expression of opinion was inappropriate, considering the sensitivity over security in the region that has long been plagued with insurgency.

The legal office of the 4th Army Region, which is responsible for the South, is considering taking legal action against the student movement, he added.

Maj Gen Pramote said that calling for a public referendum for the independence of “Patani State” (the spelling preferred by the movement) from Thailand is an act of separatism and prohibited by the law. Section 1 of the 2017 constitution stipulates that “Thailand is one and indivisible Kingdom”.

The Pelajar Bangsa movement is led by Irfan Uma. It was formed after the Federation of Patani students, or PerMAS, was dissolved on Nov 8, 2022.

The group organised a panel discussion on the “Right to Self-Determination” on Wednesday. The panelists included Assoc Prof Mark Tamthai of Payap University in Chiang Mai; Voravit Baru, an MP-elect for Pattani and deputy leader of the Prachachart Party; and Hakim Pongtiko, deputy secretary-general of the Fair Party, which has one member in the new coalition led by the Move Forward Party.

Local reports said that participants did not explicitly call for a referendum. But a placard put up at the venue said: “Do you agree with the right to self-determination or not, allowing the people of Patani to be able to legally vote in a referendum for independence?” with spaces for people to mark whether they agree or disagree.

Since January 2004, the southern border provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, and occasionally Songkhla, have been the scene of sectarian armed conflict that has claimed over 7,000 lives, about 90% of them civilians.

The caretaker government has affirmed that it will continue its policy of negotiating for peace in the deep South despite the recent Barisan Revolusi Nasional Melayu-Patani (BRN) announcement that it would suspend peace talks until a new administration is formed.

Department says rule allowing some sentences to be served outside prison has very limited application

The Department of Corrections has clarified that a new regulation it issued is not intended to pave the way for former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to serve his sentence outside of a prison if he returns to Thailand.

Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, the government’s legal expert, also said on Thursday that the regulation does not empower the director-general of the Department of Corrections to move any convicts out of prisons to be detained elsewhere as rumoured.

Thaksin, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Dubai since 2008, has said repeatedly that he is determined to return to Thailand, possibly as soon as next month, and enter the legal process. He has been sentenced in absentia to a total of 12 years in jail in four corruption cases by the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions.

The new regulation published in the Royal Gazette outlines procedures for certain prisoners who have served their time and are about to be released. It would allow for them to be further detained if the courts consider they are likely to repeat the crimes, said Sithi Sutheewong, the deputy director-general of the Department of Corrections.

The regulation was issued under Section 5 of the Detention Procedures Code, which is based on Sections 40, 41 and 42 of the Criminal Code.

Mr Sitthi said the regulation might have caused some people to misunderstand that it was specially designed to empower the director-general of the department to allow some prisoners to serve their time elsewhere.

He called for the public not to believe in rumours and distorted information and to get correct information from the Department of Corrections’ public relations page.

He said the department now has 57 people — 51 men and six women — being detained to whom the rule might apply. They are mostly homeless people with a history of having repeatedly committed petty theft.

According to official figures from the DoC from December 2022, a total of 261,919 people were imprisoned in its facilities. The actual capacity of the system is 232,165, according to the International Federation for Human Rights.

Deputy director-general says joint investigation underway with Anti-Corruption Division

The Excise Department is investigating an allegation that one of its high-level officials tried to persuade police to let go of a truck carrying 15,000 litres of smuggled oil.

Kriangkrai Pattanaporn, deputy director-general of the department, said on Thursday that a probe committee was formed on Wednesday to look into the arrest of a 47-year-old man who drove the truck in Muang district of Prachuap Khiri Khan province.

He said an initial investigation found that the truck was transporting 15,000 litres of smuggled oil, and the truck driver was indentified only as Sombat.

Mr Kriangkrai responded to reports of anti-corruption police and excise officials having intercepted the truck on Phetkasem Highway in tambon Koh Lak, Prachuap Khiri Khan, as it was en route to the Central Plains on Saturday evening.

Following the arrest, a high-level official of the Excise Department allegedly contacted the police at scene in an attempt to secure the release of the truck and its driver. However, the police rejected the request.

Mr Kriangkrai said that his department and police of the Anti-Corruption Division are jointly conducting the investigation.

“If evidence implicates a high-level executive, the department will verify it and take disciplinary action without any leniency,” the deputy director-general said.

On Thursday, crime activist Atchariya Ruangratanapong arrived at the Anti-Corruption Division, urging the agency to expand the investigation into the case.

Mr Atchariya alleged that a deputy director-general was involved in an oil-smuggling network and that the seized truck was transporting smuggled diesel from the southern border province of Songkhla to Pathum Thani province in the Central Plains.

Excise officials in Prachuap Khiri Khan were instructed to release the truck and the driver, but they were unable to do so because the highway police had already taken custody of the vehicle, according to Mr Atchariya said.

After the arrest, highway police requested that local excise officials only inspect the oil on the truck, said the activist.

He added that oil smuggling from the South occurs almost every night and raised questions regarding the whereabouts of the impounded truck.